Those present had previously been made aware of an incident involving
Trinity BC navigating Osney lock on a red board.

GB explained that the committee had been called to deal with Trinity
but he also said that the ARA would probably be looking into the
incident independently.

The committee discussed the poor wording of R2 and concluded that
under the rule as written, Trinity BC were not in breach. It was
the recommendation of the committee that specific rules regarding
locks be added to the rules. It was found, however, that Trinity
BC were in breach of R4.2 and should be fined £25 for this.

The Osney lock keeper's comments were passed round and EE said
that he was planning to demote the coxswain to Novice status until
the end of Hilary term. There were no objections raised.

The committee focused on R17.3.3 and discussed at some length whether
they had the power to interpret Trinity's actions as an Extreme
Transgression of the rules. A formal vote was taken and by 4 votes
to 2 it was decided that the committee couldn't interpret this incident
as an Extreme Transgression, yet the committee was keen to make
clear that Trinity BC were extremely lucky owing to the poor wording
of R17.3.3 and that action should be taken to alter this rule.

It was noted that G6 required Colleges to conform to R3 and R4
and that Trinity did not conform with R4.2. It was suggested that
members of Trinity BC be made to sign forms so as to fulfil R4,
but it was pointed out that they had done this before Summer Eights
last year and it didn't seem to have done anything then. The committee
discussed the possibility of Technical Bumps in Summer Eights given
the serious nature of the incident, but it was decided that this
could create problems for all Trinity BC boats.

The committee then discussed the ARA self assessment form but decided
that rejecting the form from Trinity BC would impact on all their
crews in Torpids so decided to formally ask the ARA to perform a
Safety Audit on Trinity BC as a whole.

MEETING CLOSED 19:10

5. Squad news

OUBC
Matt Smith (MS, OUBC) announced that the provisional Blue Boat has
been picked and has raced Imperial and London Rowing Club, neither
of whom had posed any competition. There will be future fixtures
against Leander and Molesey.
He admitted to "busting" his hand but said that it would
not affect OUBC's chances in The Boat Race.
He also announced that OUBC would be running a Development Squad
which would be starting next term.

OULRC
Ed Biden (EB, OULRC) said that both crews had been selected and
that they were pleased because they had won Bedford Head where Cambridge
were competing. They are to race Notts County before their Varsity
race on 30th of March.

OUWLRC
Camilla Vasa (CV, OUWLRC) said that they had picked their crew two
weeks ago and that they had arranged fixtures against Marlow and
Thames and were also planning to race the Women's Head of the River
Race, where the Cambridge opposition would be competing.

A query was raised as to whether this applied under all flag conditions.

GB said that it did.

CON thought that it would be more sensible to just say that you
couldn't navigate under Red Boards.

GB explained that the flag for the Isis is governed by the weir
at Iffley and does not necessarily tie in with the boards at Godstow.

CON argued that it was absurd to have to ring the lock keeper under
very calm green flag conditions in the summer. He also argued that
lock keepers would not appreciate early morning phone calls.

GB pointed out that weirs were dangerous and that it was fairly
rare for Colleges to take boats through them and that he didn't
think it was unreasonable to ring the lock keeper in advance. He
pointed out that their phone numbers were on the OURCs website.

CON proposed an amendment to read "3. No crew may navigate
a lock showing a Red Board"

GB objected to this on the grounds that if you get close enough
to see the boards you are already too close to the weir under fast
stream conditions.

Nonetheless, the Captains accepted the amendment and moved to vote
on the new motion.

For: Passed.

R17.3.3 Alter:
"Extreme transgressions are defined as those resulting in serious
accidents, or rowing while banned either by the red flag or a previous
penalty"
to
"Extreme transgressions are defined as those resulting in serious
incidents, or rowing whilst banned, for example by an OURCs flag
or a previous penalty."
Proposed: Guy Barnett (OURCs Secretary) Seconded: Stuart Jones (OURCs
Committee)

GB explained that this rule was rarely used but that the archaic
nature of its wording made it extremely limiting in its effect.
He explained that "the red flag" was far too limiting
and dated back to a time when the system was simpler.

Merton would like honorary membership for Anne Goodgame (no college),
formerly of Merton who has been in continuous possession of a BOD
card.

St Catz would like honorary membership of Lyndsey Highton (Green)
who was an undergraduate at St Catz.

Wolfson request honorary membership of Wendy Storr (no college),
formerly St Cross, who has been in continuous possession of a BOD
card.

All the Honorary Memberships were passed without objection.

8. Ratification of Senior Umpires for Torpids

Andy Hadcroft

There were no objections.

9. River Closures

OURLC would like the boat club captains to agree to a river closure
on the Thursday and Friday of second week in trinity term between
1pm and 6pm. This would allow the club to run a summer sprints regatta,
providing racing experience for crews before eights and especially
novices since Christ church regatta was cancelled. The regatta would
also raise much needed funds for the club, which we are especially
in need of since Nephthys regatta was cancelled in Michlemas.
Proposed: Ed Biden (OULRC President) Seconded: Jo Telford (OUWBC
President)

There was a query as to how much the entry fees would be.

EB said that they would likely be similar to events such as Christ
Church Regatta.

For: Passed

Somerville request a river closure for a match against their sponsors
between 4-5pm on Friday 2nd May (1st Week)2003.

Stuart Jones (SJ, OURCs Committee) queried what the point of a
river closure was as it would only apply to the OURCs crews.

Somerville said it was to drastically reduce the river traffic
by removing the OURCs crews.

For: Passed.

10. Torpids Start Order

GB read out the Rowing On results and then MS did the draw for
the starting positions of the newly qualified crews.